Techs Are Avoiding VGB Work

Many service technicians are no longer comfortable performing work meant to bring about compliance with the Virginia Graeme Baker Act.
Some avoid it as much as possible.

“It’s a nightmare. Why would anyone want to do
it?” said Kevin Wallace, president of San Diego-based
Underwater Unlimited Inc., who only performs the work under strict
conditions.

Last May, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled up
to 1 million drain covers that had been stamped as VGB-compliant.
Further action came in September, when the agency tightened the
criteria for unblockable drains, stipulating that those not meeting
the new requirements must be retrofitted by May 28, 2012.

Techs cite a number of reasons for not wanting to do the
work, including long delays getting reimbursed by manufacturers of
the drain covers. “There is some concern,” said Jim Von
Allmen, owner of AAA Pool Maintenance in Camarillo, Calif.
“I’ve done a bunch of them already. Some of them I got
paid for, some of them I didn’t.”

When the check does come, often the amount isn’t sufficient
to cover the work that was performed, professionals say. There also
have been arguments about whether some retrofits are reimbursable
if, for instance, the recall guidelines were changed in midstream
or misunderstood.

But often, concerns go beyond the immediate bottom line. Some techs
fear the CPSC will institute more changes, invalidating any work
done this year, others are worried about liability. They performed
VGB work to comply with the language of the time, but question what
might happen now the stipulations have changed.

If CPSC does another about-face and there is an accident, to what
standard will the court hold companies?

“The rules keep changing,” said Steve Dunn, vice
president of Commercial Pool Systems Inc., a distributor based in
Martinez, Calif. “A lot of [techs] have made the decision not
to do any more VGB work because the liability has become even
greater than it was originally.”

Other professionals are suffering VGB fatigue brought on by
inconsistencies between CPSC requirements and local health
department directives. Ironically, some of the most burned out are
those who were most vehement about compliance before the 2008
deadline. “I’ve completely stopped doing it,”
said Jib Bowe, a technician who at first embraced the law and
sought every available opportunity to learn about compliance.

“Since [the law] changes on a daily basis, companies are not
paying to do retrofits on the voluntary recall covers,” said
Bowe, manager of Bay Pool Systems in Monterey, Calif. “The
best we can do is educate people and let them find somebody on
their own.”

Among technicians who are accepting VGB jobs, many have found that
some pools previously certified as compliant were not properly
retrofitted in the first place. “You can’t just put on
a new approved cover if it’s not in compliance to begin with.
If you put on a retrofit cover and walk away, then you own it
— you’re liable,” said Wallace.

As a result, a number are only accepting VGB jobs within certain
restrictions. Wallace and others only perform work if the facility
owner agrees to a complete pool inspection and is willing to pay
for any other work needed to bring the pool into true
compliance.

“If they’re our client,s and we did the past VGB work,
we’ll do it, if we’re pressured,” said Richard
Dietz Sr., president of Aqua Creations in Ventura, Calif. “We’re not offering.”